Hill 517

The Battle of Hill 517 (12 October 1967) was a minor battle of the Vietnam War that saw a squad of 20 United States Marines under Corporal Lawrence Radiack capture and hold a firebase against a force of around 50 Viet Cong troops and inflict 38 losses before being overrun.

Background
The Viet Cong insurgents of South Vietnam overran a former South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) firebase in Quang Nam Province in late 1967, so Corporal Lawrence Radiack was dispatched with 20 USMC marines to recapture the hill from the Viet Cong under Nguyen Tranh Bien. Radiack and his troops encountered a few Viet Cong on 11 October 1967 and repelled them in a firefight that wounded one Viet Cong soldier, and they were ready to storm the base the next day.

Battle
Corporal Radiack and his squad assaulted the base and suffered light casualties outside of the base; they began to take some losses when they reached the sandbag positions inside of the base. The American troops killed the 20 Viet Cong inside of the firebase and took up defensive positions. US troops to the south of the sandbags were ambushed first by Viet Cong reinforcements, and they had to withdraw into the base. The US Army was eventually forced to retreat to the bunker in the center after taking heavy losses, but only a few of them made it to the bunker. In the end, the Americans were able to rifle about 38 Viet Cong guerrillas, but all of the Americans were killed in action.